Design Debates

many times there are two (or more) seemingly viable approaches that people can be arguing for…

when in doubt, sketch it out… that is,

  • quick model diagrams, or
  • quick sequence diagrams,
  • compare and contrast

now let’s (hopefully continue to) presume this is about an exceedingly critical aspect, a make-or-break design decision. because surely, you aren’t spending precious project resources deciding whether or not to use 2 or 4 spaces per indent level!

so, if sketching out the ideas and comparing still did not reveal a clear winner, then code up the competing ideas and put them to the test. give the designs a day or two of effort, or more — in proportion to the critical nature of getting the decision right. then, have some a priori metrics by which to pick the winner via “testing” the designs.

  • better performance
  • less code
  • easier to grok
  • suitability to task
  • etc

and if you still can’t choose a clear winner, well, man-up, be a leader, and make a freaking decision (even if it is flipping a coin), and don’t look back.

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